ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

ArcBest Co. (NASDAQ:ARCB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $124.50.

ARCB has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of ArcBest from $133.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised ArcBest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on ArcBest from $131.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of ArcBest from $130.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of ArcBest from $110.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

ArcBest Price Performance

Shares of ARCB opened at $93.32 on Thursday. ArcBest has a 12 month low of $91.01 and a 12 month high of $153.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $106.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.50. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.49.

ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The transportation company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. ArcBest had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 4.54%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that ArcBest will post 6.06 earnings per share for the current year.

ArcBest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. ArcBest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig E. Philip sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.91, for a total value of $428,649.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,555,407.50. This represents a 14.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Newcity sold 10,443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.60, for a total transaction of $1,259,425.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,150.60. This trade represents a 67.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ArcBest

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in ArcBest by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 957,410 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $103,831,000 after acquiring an additional 17,542 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ArcBest by 92.3% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,753 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of ArcBest by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 116,672 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,653,000 after purchasing an additional 16,103 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 342.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,134 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,678,000 after purchasing an additional 33,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ArcBest by 5.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 414,261 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,927,000 after purchasing an additional 21,905 shares in the last quarter. 99.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ArcBest

ArcBest Corporation, an integrated logistics company, engages in the provision of ground, air, and ocean transportation solutions. It operates through two segments: Asset-Based and Asset-Light. The Asset-Based segment provides less-than-truckload (LTL) services, that transports general commodities, such as food, textiles, apparel, furniture, appliances, chemicals, non-bulk petroleum products, rubber, plastics, metal and metal products, wood, glass, automotive parts, machinery, and miscellaneous manufactured products.